What Is The Green Inferno?

After cycling what felt like forty seven miles of barbed wire, the wild green of leaves and trees exploded around me. Birds I had never seen or heard before screeched in pain or pleasure from the air. The path was disappearing now. Rocks and what felt like fine sand made it impossible to peddle through with my aching legs. I stood my bike up by a large Boulder and pulled off my mask. The sun was high and burning hot in the sky as I guessed the time to be about three o clock in the afternoon. I just heard a whirring and garbled robotic voice saying "Three pm yes, three pm." Before the vocal track disintegrated exhaustedly. It was a drone on its last legs. Only one of its four rotor blades seemed to be whirring with any life. I took off my sweat soaked t shirt and threw it over the camera eye on the front of the drone and stamped on its copter blades. They crunched underfoot and became motionless. As I picked up the unit it weighed maybe ten kilos I brought it crashing down eye first onto a Boulder. "Oh dear!" It said. I looked for the microphone where its ear should be and spoke. Can you hear me? I asked. And after maybe thirty seconds I got a reply. "Yes what do you want to know?"

I thought twice about giving anything away to the drone, but these long range units tended to be autonomous AI service drones staying out for weeks at a time, gathering information that was stored on an internal hard drive. That would be harvested later by a larger drone when it's battery gave out or when it became incapacitated like now.

What is your mission? How did it fail?

"Searching for Green Inferno. Shot out of the sky by a wooden projectile. Maybe an arrow."

What is Green Inferno?

"Very dangerous humans. Anti vaxxers. Anarchists. Subversives. War deserters. Traitors. Marked for extermination."

By who? You?

"No I am reconosance drone. Others come."

Are you sending coordinates back now to be retrieved?

"No, GPS damaged, I cant be found now,,%$#@(sad beep)"

So what are you saying? That you're lost?

"Yes Big Eagle look for me but not find(whirring,,,crunch)"

Too bad. Where is Green Inferno?

"Close,,,close,,,feel sleepy,,,battery dying."

I pulled the little plastic trap door covering the hard drive open. Undid the clips and slid the small metal box out. 

It was then that I heard the rotor blades of a far more dangerous animal. The Eagle drone. It must be looking for its missing unit. So the thing had lied to me! It was expecting a rescue and had lured me into a trap. This new Eagle drone was right above the Bush I was hiding in. It sounded like a flying nest of robot wasps was bearing down on me. This drones voice was deeper, more authoritive. 

"GIVE UP! IT IS FUTILE TO RESIST!"

Just then I heard some movement in the trees, and a couple of people cheered as the Eagle Drone fell out of the sky with a thud!

It crashed down near where I was hiding and this drone was twice the size of the other one. It appeared to be carrying a missile about the size of an umbrella on its bottom side. Just then I saw my rescuers as they helped me up from the ground. They were both males in their early twenties, with athletic bodies, naked apart from what looked like speedos. They were both brown with dirt. I looked at their shaggy blond hair and saw animal bones and computer wires fashioned into jewellery. They both carried home made long bows. Their piercing blue eyes, as they looked at me were like the sea from a far away land in children's story books. The larger, more dominant male gestured.at his friend then at himself, then pointed into the trees. "Green Inferno." He said.